So, some of my readers may know that I am the owner of a pair of fantasy football teams, "Saintly Cowboys" and "Shaky Lightning" (based on their default logos). I have been doing fantasy football for a few years, but my best finish was second place. I really want to win a championship this year. In 2009, "Hypnotic" destroyed rival "Crazy Jay" in the semifinal, but was beaten by an extremely powerful "Wrecking Crew" team in the championship. In 2010, "Strike" entered the playoffs with an impressive 11-3 record and the number one seed, but was upset by underdog "alldayap10" in a low-scoring battle. I lost the third place game, too. 2011 was not as good of a year. I slipped into the playoffs with an 8-6 record and the fourth seed, and I ended up in fourth place again.
How my teams are doing right now:
Saintly Cowboys (5-4):
I have alternated between winning and losing with this team. I started with a solid roster and improved by adding Fred Jackson, but both Greg Jennings and Pierre Garçon were injured. Fortunately, I picked up Randall Cobb and Denarius Moore to go along with Julio Jones, and all three have been excellent. Strangely, my last victory dropped me from fourth place to fifth place.
QB: Drew Brees is a consistent starter. I had Josh Freeman as a backup briefly, but after the Bucs' slow start, I replaced him with Matt Schaub.
RB: Maurice Jones-Drew and Michael Turner are not as good as you might think. MJD has missed many games, and Turner loses a lot of carries to Jacquizz Rodgers. I'm currently using Fred Jackson in place of MJD, and I have Rashad Jennings as a handcuff for MJD.
WR: I already discussed this position above.
TE: Vernon Davis is a great player, but his bye week was this past week, so I signed Kyle Rudolph, who did absolutely nothing.
K: I rotate players here. I have Shayne Graham right now. I use Young GZ when the Rams have a good matchup.
DEF: The Bears have been great all year. They had a fantastic performance against Tennessee this past week.
Shaky Lightning (6-3)
Shaky Lightning is probably the better of my two teams. I have made good waiver wire pickups and I currently have an amazing group of running backs. I am currently less than stellar at QB, however.
QB: Like I said, this position is one of my weaknesses, along with DEF. I have to alternate Phillip Rivers and Tony Romo based on recent success and matchups.
RB: I am loaded at running back. I have Run DMC, Trent Richardson, Stevan Ridley and DeMarco Murray as my main running backs, thanks to a combination of activity on the waiver wire and strange transactions from my opponents. Due to some weird circumstances (DMC and DMM are injured and Richardson has a bye), I have to use Vick Ballard at running back this week. He was not great, but I needed someone, and he outperformed my original option, Rashad Jennings.
WR: I somehow ended up with four wide receivers who can be started on a regular basis: A.J. Green, Steve Smith, Demaryius Thomas and Denarius Moore. They serve me well week after week.
TE: I already had Antonio Gates, and when one of the other teams dropped Aaron Hernandez, I snapped him up. I now play them based on matchups.
DEF: Who needs a consistent defense week after week when you can play matchups? I used the COLTS on Thursday night against Jacksonville, and they got me 20 points. I used to have the Ravens, but they're deteriorating rapidly.
I'm hoping for a lot of success this year in fantasy football!
Friday, November 9, 2012
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Week 8
A week of surprises:
• Bucs 36, Vikings 17: I certainly was surprised when Doug Martin went off for a total of 33.4 fantasy points. Also, an underrated and surprisingly good Vikings team was blown out by Tampa Bay. The Bucs always seem like a team somewhere in between contender and bottom-feeder. This year, they have a chance to turn things around and go somewhere in a weak NFC South.
• Dolphins 30, Jets 9: The Jets are ridiculous. We see a different team every week. It seems like they are always either blowing a team out or getting blown out. As for the Dolphins, Matt Moore led them to this victory. Will there be a quarterback controversy in Miami? I doubt it, personally.
• Browns 7, Chargers 6: Especially now, after the Chargers destroyed the Chiefs on TNF, this final score seems strange. The Chargers are a talented team, but they never win the AFC West, a relatively weak division in which any team can beat any other. I personally did not expect a Browns win, and I definitely didn't expect Trent Richardson to perform well while injured, even though he did last time he was ailing. (P.S. It seems that San Diego now has a chance of making the playoffs after their win.)
• Colts 19, Titans 13: I read WalterFootball.com frequently, and I believe it was there that I learned that the COLTS are in PLAYOFF CONTENTION at 4-3. If they made the playoffs this year, that would be a remarkable turnaround after last season's miserable failure.
• Patriots 45, Rams 7: I thought the Rams were better than this. Young GZ (Greg Zuerlein), the Rams' kicker, let me down, too. I have him on both fantasy teams.
• Packers 24, Jaguars 15: The Jaguars were competitive without MJD! Against the Packers! I have to say that that's a surprise. The Packers definitely aren't as good this year as they have been in the past, but I think they can still make the playoffs.
• Falcons 30, Eagles 17: No surprises here. Vick is still mediocre, Falcons are still undefeated.
• Steelers 27, Redskins 12: RG3 can't do it himself for Washington, contrary to popular belief. Pierre Garçon (like my fancy ç cedille?) needs to be healthy. Alfred Morris is surprisingly consistent, though and I like this team right now. As for the Steelers, I'm surprised they won this game with only no-name running backs like Jonathan Dwyer, Chris Rainey and Baron Batch on offense.
• Lions 28, Seahawks 24: Well, Detroit looked more like the Detroit of last year than the winless Lions of a few years ago in this particular game. Seattle is a legitimately good team, though, but Russell Wilson needs some more experience.
• Bears 23, Panthers 22: Carolina's slide continues. Cam "Superman" Newton is looking more like the Joker (yeah, they're not from the same series). As of today, DeAngelo Williams hasn't been traded, but it's the tradeline, so he'll be a Panther for a little while longer.
• Raiders 26, Chiefs 16: KC needs a new QB. Matt Cassel isn't much better than Brady Quinn in terms of success at this point. There are a lot of QBs in the draft this year, and Kansas City will hopefully, for their sake, be in a position to get one.
• Giants 29, Cowboys 24: Revenge! New York overcame a Dallas team that beat them in the kickoff game this year. The Cowboys did pretty well, though, especially considering the fact that they had Phillip Tanner at running back during this game.
• Broncos 34, Saints 14: Would it surprise anybody to learn that the Saints are still mediocre? Maybe a few people thought Drew Brees would right the ship, but that's not looking likely.
• 49ers 24, Cardinals 3: Surprise! The Cardinals don't seem to be legitimate contenders. When they had a great start, many people, myself included, thought they had a chance this year, but they were dominated by a division rival.
The season is halfway done and I'm sure that an exciting second half awaits all of us NFL fans!
• Bucs 36, Vikings 17: I certainly was surprised when Doug Martin went off for a total of 33.4 fantasy points. Also, an underrated and surprisingly good Vikings team was blown out by Tampa Bay. The Bucs always seem like a team somewhere in between contender and bottom-feeder. This year, they have a chance to turn things around and go somewhere in a weak NFC South.
• Dolphins 30, Jets 9: The Jets are ridiculous. We see a different team every week. It seems like they are always either blowing a team out or getting blown out. As for the Dolphins, Matt Moore led them to this victory. Will there be a quarterback controversy in Miami? I doubt it, personally.
• Browns 7, Chargers 6: Especially now, after the Chargers destroyed the Chiefs on TNF, this final score seems strange. The Chargers are a talented team, but they never win the AFC West, a relatively weak division in which any team can beat any other. I personally did not expect a Browns win, and I definitely didn't expect Trent Richardson to perform well while injured, even though he did last time he was ailing. (P.S. It seems that San Diego now has a chance of making the playoffs after their win.)
• Colts 19, Titans 13: I read WalterFootball.com frequently, and I believe it was there that I learned that the COLTS are in PLAYOFF CONTENTION at 4-3. If they made the playoffs this year, that would be a remarkable turnaround after last season's miserable failure.
• Patriots 45, Rams 7: I thought the Rams were better than this. Young GZ (Greg Zuerlein), the Rams' kicker, let me down, too. I have him on both fantasy teams.
• Packers 24, Jaguars 15: The Jaguars were competitive without MJD! Against the Packers! I have to say that that's a surprise. The Packers definitely aren't as good this year as they have been in the past, but I think they can still make the playoffs.
• Falcons 30, Eagles 17: No surprises here. Vick is still mediocre, Falcons are still undefeated.
• Steelers 27, Redskins 12: RG3 can't do it himself for Washington, contrary to popular belief. Pierre Garçon (like my fancy ç cedille?) needs to be healthy. Alfred Morris is surprisingly consistent, though and I like this team right now. As for the Steelers, I'm surprised they won this game with only no-name running backs like Jonathan Dwyer, Chris Rainey and Baron Batch on offense.
• Lions 28, Seahawks 24: Well, Detroit looked more like the Detroit of last year than the winless Lions of a few years ago in this particular game. Seattle is a legitimately good team, though, but Russell Wilson needs some more experience.
• Bears 23, Panthers 22: Carolina's slide continues. Cam "Superman" Newton is looking more like the Joker (yeah, they're not from the same series). As of today, DeAngelo Williams hasn't been traded, but it's the tradeline, so he'll be a Panther for a little while longer.
• Raiders 26, Chiefs 16: KC needs a new QB. Matt Cassel isn't much better than Brady Quinn in terms of success at this point. There are a lot of QBs in the draft this year, and Kansas City will hopefully, for their sake, be in a position to get one.
• Giants 29, Cowboys 24: Revenge! New York overcame a Dallas team that beat them in the kickoff game this year. The Cowboys did pretty well, though, especially considering the fact that they had Phillip Tanner at running back during this game.
• Broncos 34, Saints 14: Would it surprise anybody to learn that the Saints are still mediocre? Maybe a few people thought Drew Brees would right the ship, but that's not looking likely.
• 49ers 24, Cardinals 3: Surprise! The Cardinals don't seem to be legitimate contenders. When they had a great start, many people, myself included, thought they had a chance this year, but they were dominated by a division rival.
The season is halfway done and I'm sure that an exciting second half awaits all of us NFL fans!
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